In the first of our series of image noise tests of the Canon 5D, we shoot in daytime.
For these tests of the Canon 5D digital SLR camera, we went to our standard daytime location and shot with the camera tripod mounted, mirror lockup engaged and used a cable release. We used a Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS lens, shooting at a focal length of 105mm. We used aperture priority and an aperture of f8 so that any noise effect will be more noticable with regard to a consistent lens sharpness. Starting exposure was 1/8 second at f8 and 100ISO.
The RAW files are available on the camera test page for those who wish to examine the images themselves. The JPEGs below are 100% sections from the center of the images. They were prepared in Photoshop from TIFFs. The TIFFs had been converted from the RAW in Canon’s own Digital Photo Professional software.
100ISO
400ISO
1600ISO
Noise is amazingly well controlled. Even at 200%, there is no real image noise visible at 100ISO, slight noise at 400ISO and remarkably little at 1600ISO.
My conclusion from this test is that, for daytime short exposure photography, the Canon 5D can be used at basically any ISO setting you want to get the exposure value you desire.